Monday, October 9, 2017

Fishing after storms can be tricky

Noah Brunelli
of Wakefield (13 years old) with the 4.9 pound largemouth bass he caught on the
Saugatucket River with worms he dug from the woods next to his home.

Fishing after storms can be tricky

Many of us may have a touch of
cabin fever after being waylaid by the remains of Jose. Freshwater fishing is a good bet after a
storm as the water is not as turbid and conditions are usually more tolerable with
no high ocean surf.

As the weather clears here are some
‘fishing after storms’ thoughts and tips.

Be safe. Winds and rain create fast
moving water on river banks and the coastal shoreline. Stay away from this water as you can get
washed in particularly from high ocean surf.

A storm like the one we had this
week can change fishing a lot. Some
species like summer flounder (fluke) may leave the area totally. Yet others species just won’t bite. They may not bite because the water is dirty
with sand that irritates the gills of fish so they stop moving around and
feeding or they simply cannot see your bait in murky, cloudy water.

Storms can also create fishing opportunities
with reefs, clam and mussel beds that get torn up with broken shells providing
a feeding ground for many of the fish we target.

Additionally, a good storm this
time of year often provides a cleansing and transition time for anglers suggesting
it is time to target fall species like tautog, migrating striped bass, surface
feeding bluefish, cod and false albacore.

After a short chapter meeting, Ron
Lasko will give a presentation titled ‘Beyond
a tale of two rivers – a future for sea run brook trout’. Lasko is the author of ‘A tale of two rivers’ which is the ecological, and historical story
of Cape Cod’s sea run brook trout. For
additional information contact Glenn Place at 1-401-225-7712 or at TU225President@gmail.com .

Where’s the bite

False albacore (albies)and
bonito fishing was very good this week as false albacore and some bonito
were running along our coastline from Watch Hill to the Sakonnet River with
reports from the East Fishing Grounds and other areas lighting up too. The most intense contact was around Pt. Judith
both toward Westerly and north to Narragansett Beach. Angler Adam Maziarz said on the RISAA blog he
landed a nice bonito off Scarborough Beach Saturday. Maziarz said, “They put on a quite a show, occasionally getting completely
airborne. I managed to catch a bonito on a pink Hogy epoxy jig, which made the
trip worthwhile. They seemed fairly picky; I tried many colors of epoxy jigs
attempting to match the hatch but the pink did the trick.” Dave Henault of Ocean State Tackle,
Providence said, “Albies and bonito were thick, acres of them from Pt. Judith
to Block Island feeding on peanut bunker. Popular places to land them from
shore include the West Wall at the Harbor of Refuge, Fort Getty, Jamestown and Sakonnet
Point.” Dimitri Mancini of Continental Bait
& Tackle, Cranston said, “Diego Vargas, one of our good customers and an
outstanding fisherman, fished the East Fishing Grounds Saturday and landed
false albacore and his party limited out on extra-large black sea bass
underneath. Large bluefish were on the
surface too.”

Tautog fishing is spotty.
Some anglers landing fish in the upper Bay but the best bite has been in
the lower Bay with some tautog anglers landing fish to ten pounds. John Littlefield of Archie’s Bait &
Tackle, Riverside said, “Customers are trying to hook up with tautog from shore
but are not having much luck at places such as Wharf Tavern. But, I did hear the bite at Castle Hill,
Newport was good.” Charlie and Carole Prisco of Warwick caught
keeper tautog in the upper Bay last week, the fish were there with small ones
too but as Charlie said, “The tautog bite is on.”

Striped bass fishing is the Bay is not good however
the bluefish bite exploded this week in the east passage and south of Conimicut
Light. “The bluefish bite off Barrington
Beach and south of Conimicut Point was good this weekend. The blues were feeding on schools of peanut
bunker.” said John Littlefield of Archie’s Bait & Tackle. The bass bite at Block Island was on and off
last week. “The bite has been early in
the morning. We have been leaving the
dock at Pt. Judith at 5:00 a.m.” said Capt. Rick Bellavance of Priority Too
Charters. Some days you arrive at the
Island and the bite is on other days the fish are just not there. Dave Henault of Ocean State Tackle said, “The
striped bass bite at the Cape Cod Canal continues to be outstanding. Anglers are landing pass in the 40 pound range
from shore. The ‘Whip it Fish’ by Al
Gag’s, a soft plastic lure, is working very well for Canal fishermen. Dimitri
Mancini of Continental Bait & Tackle said, “The striped bass bite for
customers fishing the Cape Cod Canal has been staggering. Better than it has ever been. Hogy soft plastic lures are working well. It
has been a very successful lure for our customers fishing the Canal and comes
in a variety of colors with white and pink working the best lately.”

Black sea bass, scup and summer
flounder. Anglers are reminded that the black sea bass
season in Rhode Island and Federal waters is closed this Friday, September 22
to October 21. The season opens again on
October 22 with a seven fish/person/day limit.
The closure in the fall was a tradeoff for the season staring a month earlier
in June this year. “The scup bite is
strong at Sabin Point and Colt State Park with anglers often reaching their 30
fish limit. They are also catching a lot
of northern kingfish.” said John Littlefield
of Archie’s Bait. This weekend anglers
fishing my dock and the Town Dock in Wickford were landing scup, northern
kingfish, skipjack bluefish and an occasional summer flounder. I fished off Beavertail Point this weekend
with my brother Henry, Mike and friend Kevin.
They landed summer flounder, black sea bass and scup with a slow pick of
keepers.

Cod fishing is starting to pick-up with anglers targeting
them at the East Grounds and Cox’s Ledge. Capt. Frank Blount of the Frances
Fleet said, “Hi hook this Saturday was four cod with a decent number of
fishers having two apiece. There were some large sea flounder to over four
pounds and a few big fluke to 11 pounds along with a nice assortment of ling
including some real "baseball" bat size specimens. Both jigs and bait
produced on the cod fish.”

Freshwater fishing continues to be good in area lakes and
ponds. “The largemouth bass bite is good
in ponds at Rehoboth, MA and at the Brickyard Pond in Barrington where one of
my customers caught a six pound catfish this week.” said John Littlefield of Archie’s Bait & Tackle. “The largemouth bass bite is very solid with
three and four pound fish being landed fairly common in places like Meshanticut
Lake and Randall Pond in Cranston.”said Dimitri Mancini of
Continental Bait. Noah Brunelli (13
years old) and his brother Zach Brunelli found a good largemouth bass bite to
4.9 pounds on the Saugatucket River. They
caught multiple bass using worms dug from the woods near their home in
Wakefield, RI.

About Me

Caption Dave has been fishing and shell fishing in Rhode Island for over 40 years. For fifteen years he held a scallop license on Nantucket where he fished in the winter months. He holds a captain’s master license and a charter fishing license. Read No Fluke and keep your eyes open for Captain Dave, you might catch him fishing on Narragansett Bay or near ocean coastal waters on his 26' Bonito fishing machine, Virginia Joan. There’s more than one way to catch a fish so visit Captain Dave’s website at www.noflukefishing.com and e-mail him your fishing news, photo, comments, questions and thoughts at dmontifish@verizon.net.